Last week the school launched its "Aghub" initiative with an evening event at the newly renovated Quinn’s Arcade.
More than 150 people attended the event including Waitaki MP Miles Anderson, Waimate District Mayor Craig Rowley and representatives from all aspects of the Waimate agricultural community.
Waimate High School principal Jo Hunnikin said the new initiative was a way to prepare pupils for entry into the agricultural sector.
"Waimate is a strong rural community so the vast majority of our pupils who don’t go to university, go off into the agricultural sector and we want to make sure they are as well prepared, if not better than anywhere else in the district.
"We’ve got access to the local racecourse which is 100 acres of land that isn’t used as a racecourse any more.
"The racecourse trust have allowed us to use that land so that we can develop a programme around skills for our kids around agriculture, so doing fencing, cropping, raising beef and all those authentic experiences."
She said the launch evening was a way to get the whole community involved in "AgHub".
"We had all the local farmers there and others with the willingness to help out with funding, time gears, ideas and expertise.
"We invited everybody we could that was involved in the sector.
"We want to raise our school profile to be like an agricultural hub and centre of excellence.
"It’s a really big deal for us."
Earlier this year the Waimate High School roll ticked over the 300-pupil mark for the first time in 10 years.
Ms Hunnikin said there was now a real focus in the school and the wider community to provide pupils with opportunities that kept them in Waimate.
"There are a group of people called the Waimate Opportunities Trust, formed back in 2020.
"They have goals around keeping kids in Waimate.
"A lot of kids bust out of the school and we want to keep them here, so we’ve been doing a lot of myth-busting [about] all the things held against Waimate.
"Our NCEA results are the best in South Canterbury and North Otago now.
"We just want to highlight all of the opportunities we can provide them right here, instead of going to Timaru or Oamaru, whether that’s in sport or academics."
